Jumping up to the 15 pound
BBIQ class, the rule for the day was
vertical spinning egg beaters rule,
with one exception. That exception
was third place finisher No Remorse
from Valley Middle School in Apple
Valley, MN. No Remorse was a
wedge bot that proudly proclaimed
it had no regrets (except perhaps
not finishing first or second). The
story behind second and first place
is a little more amusing. Chucker,
from St. Cloud Technical College in
Minnesota, and Humdinger 2, from
Buffalo High School (also in
Minnesota) were both armed with
egg beaters and spent the duration
of the Rotunda Rumble putting
various items, including themselves,
into low orbit. Interesting fact: The
creators of Chucker and Humdinger
2 used to be on the same team.
Thus, when they both found their
way to the finals, the ensuing battle
was the robotic equivalent of Obi-Wan Kenobi facing off with Anakin
Skywalker. It was three minutes of
sheer pandemonium to see who
was stronger in the force, but the
results showed that Humdinger 2

was the master and, as such,
walked away with $2,500 in
merchandise (including a GEARS kit
donated by GEARS) for first place.
Chucker would have to content
himself with being the apprentice.

Since they were able to make it
through the entire BBIQ tournament
on Saturday, there was a second
BBIQ tournament on Sunday for
anyone who could still cobble
together a working robot. Taking
home first place ($200) and some
vindication for Saturday was none
other than Chucker. In second was
Uppercut built by John Glenn
Middle School in Maple Wood, MN.
In an honorable third was Death
Star deployed by PACT Charter
School in Ramsey, MN. (I’d trot out
another Star Wars metaphor, but
I’m afraid we used them all up in
the last paragraph.)

Among the 30 pound big boys
of the event, third place went to
Team Nerd Academy and their
wood, plastic, shovel, Gorilla Tape
composite push bot, SUMO. (See
Tim Wolter’s build report on SUMO
in this month’s Combat Zone.) In

second was team Rampage
Productions’ Whop Rivet, an
articulated flail spinner. And
bringing home first place and $500
in prizes was veteran driver Dick
Stuplich from Team Killerbotics and
his wedged-wonder, Pyromancer.

Even more impressive was that
Pyromancer was fighting with the
proverbial arm behind the back, as
the flame based weaponry, and,
consequently, his flamethrower was
not allowed at the Mall of America.
If anyone happens to think that’s
silly, I would like to point out two
things. One, every other store in the
Mall of America sells 100% cotton
shirts. Two, 100% cotton shirts burn
quite well. (Your honor, the defense
rests.)

All in all, it was an impressive
event which boasted an excellent
turnout in terms of both builders
and bot watchers. Better still, plans
are in the works for a similar event
next year. We’re looking forward
to it. SV

All the pictures were taken by Deb Holmes
of the Midwest Robotics League.